Clinton Expected To Sign Widely Hailed Head Start Bill

President Clinton this week is expected to sign a Head Start
reauthorization bill that drew bipartisan support in Congress and is
backed by child advocates.

"This is one of the strongest bills in the program's history,'' said
Helen Blank, the director of child care for the Children's Defense
Fund. "It will allow Head Start to bolster quality and serve children
more effectively.''

Both houses last week approved a House-Senate conference agreement
on the bill, which reauthorizes the popular program for disadvantaged
preschoolers at "such sums as may be necessary'' through 1998. (See
Education Week, May 11, 1994.)

The Senate approved the measure on a 98-to-1 vote, with Sen. Jesse
Helms, R-N.C., the lone dissenter. The House passed it on a vote of 393
to 20.

Early-childhood educators have long hailed Head Start's combination
of parent involvement with education, health, and other social
services. But the bill reflects a consensus among experts and
policymakers that action is needed to shore up program quality and
serve increasingly troubled families.

The bill bolsters standards and monitoring, technical aid, and
sanctions for poorly performing grantees. It also calls for improved
teacher training and a new mentor-teacher program. Language in the bill
also encourages grantees to raise teacher salaries, adopt full-day,
full-year programming, and address the needs of families with limited
proficiency in English.

Better School Coordination

The bill reserves from 3 percent to 5 percent of Head Start funding
between 1995 and 1998 for a new component that is to serve infants and
toddlers.

It also extends a transition-grant program that carries Head Start
approaches into the early elementary grades and supports other efforts
to improve coordination between Head Start and schools.

It also strengthens parent-involvement provisions and calls for more
family-literacy and parent-education services in collaboration with the
Even Start program.

Child advocates for now have lost a battle to curb the paperwork
Head Start grantees face in establishing children's eligibility for a
federal food program that most already qualify for based on income.

But the bill for the first time allows grantees to build facilities
if a suitable one does not exist nearby or if construction is more
cost-effective than buying or renovating appropriate space.

A bill-signing ceremony has been tentatively scheduled for May
18.

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